This story was originally published in THE WEEK on November 27, 2011
There are no people. There is no life. All that remains of this once-bustling town of Chernobyl are abandoned cars, homes, restaurants and offices. And plenty of dangerous radioactive material.
Inside an empty apartment, a table set with plates and glasses for a family meal stands covered in dust. Clearly, the meal never took place and the family fled home on that tragic morning of April 26,1986, when the world's worst nuclear power plant disaster changed their lives forever. Everyone left in a hurry, hoping to return in a few days. But they never did, as everything they owned or used was highly contaminated with dangerous radioactive material.
All around the 30km exclusion zone are reminders of a thriving town; compound walls covered in graffiti and a kindergarten park scattered with rusting bumper cars.
Even after all these years, Chernobyl is still a dangerous place. Eating, smoking or touching any structure or vegetation in the exclusion zone is prohibited as harmful radioactive dust covers almost everything, including the nearby Pripyat river. Visitors are required to sign a waiver absolving the Ukrainian government of any liability due to health
problems that may result from the visit. Visitors also carry a radiation dosimeter that beeps if they enter an area with dangerous levels of radiation.
Nuclear reactor No. 4 exploded at this site here 25 years ago, and the world watched in horror as a radioactive plume spread across Russia and other European countries. The radiation was 400 times more radioactive than what the atomic bomb released in Hiroshima in 1945. Obsessed with secrecy during the Cold War, Russia didn't reveal news
about the Chernobyl explosion until radiation levels in the atmosphere set off alarms 1,000km away at the Forsmark nuclear power plant in Sweden.
Six months after the explosion, Reactor No. 4 was enclosed by a concrete cover called the sarcophagus, to protect the environment from radiation. Hundreds of tonnes of radioactive material remains inside. The sarcophagus developed cracks and an international effort is on to build a new encasement consisting of a giant steel arch that will be longer than a football field. The $1.17 billion replacement shelter is designed to last 100 years and will be the largest moveable structure ever built. Officials at the site told THE WEEK that a storage facility where radioactive waste from all over Ukraine would be collected and stored safely would open there next year.
Nobody knows how many people perished because of the Chernobyl accident. Official records state that 31 people died immediately from radiation. But many more died of radiationrelated illnesses like cancer. Children were more vulnerable to cancer as they drank milk with high levels of radioactive iodine. Other staples like berries, mushrooms and potatoes are still contaminated in parts of Ukraine. Cultivation has totally stopped in and around Chernobyl and fields have given way to dense forests where wildlife is slowly coming back.
At one end of the town stands a modest memorial to the firefighters who rushed to Reactor No. 4 after the explosion. Unaware that they were entering a radioactive environment, they went in without protective suits. While they extinguished the fires, their bodies absorbed plenty of radiation. A few days later, they all died. It took tens of thousands of workers and 5,000 tonnes of lead, sand and clay to douse the flames.
The accident cost the Soviet Union hundreds of billions of dollars, and some people believe it hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, Ukraine has spent around $12 billion on maintaining the plant and compensating the victims. Radioactive nuclear fuel continues to be removed from the plant and, accordingto one government official, it could take up to 100 years before the plant is fully decommissioned.
Besides causing deaths and diseases, the nuclear disaster had a psychological impact on survivors and those who continued to live on contaminated land. In the capital Kiev, which is about 80km from Chernobyl, the nuclear explosion left people in a state of paranoia. Some stopped drinking river water, some stopped eating fish and mushroom. In the immediate aftermath, many chose not to have sex.
Before leaving Chernobyl, every person is checked for radiation contamination at the Dytyatki dosimetry control checkpoint. While almost everyone in my group successfully passed though the machine, a Japanese journalist, Tomoko Ohji, was shown the red light. Fearing she was a victim of deadly radiation, she went hysterical. Much to her great relief, an Ukrainian border security guard pointed out that she had pressed a wrong button.